Bring the Scallop Back

July 25, 2011 at 2:26 am · Filed under Sea Friendly

BRING THE SCALLOP BACK

As I look out of my window to Port Phillip Bay I recall when I started in the industry back in the early 70’s when the most exciting business in Victoria was the Scallop Industry. This was in the day’s pre-containerization (no requirements to dig the Bay up for those) and pre- emails where most negotiations were by aerogram and just before the arrival of the telex machine.

The scallop fishery had begun in Port Phillip Bay back in 1963 and like all things back in those days, due to the lack of science and fisheries management know-how we have today, the fishery expanded rapidly. The usual fishermen’s stories of ‘the fishery will last forever’ took a pasting initially in 1969 when the fishery collapsed. Lessons were learned and it was soon back on its feet and was producing well over a 1,000MT a year for many years. Science and research leading to size limits, bag restrictions, controlled licensing, all started to have an effect and the humble Commercial Scallop (Pecten fumatus) was a regular feature in the retail shops and a considered delicacy on the plate at fine dining restaurants or served battered at fish’n’chip shops. Processing companies employing lots of labor, mostly females had a good regular business.

Being able to dine in a restaurant overlooking Port Phillip Bay watching fishing vessels that caught the product you are eating must be ‘gold’ to fishery managers and proving their role in sound management? This is one of the great things about the fishing industry. This feeling just came rushing back to me when travelling in Spain where we dined on gorgeous juicy steamed Mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis) with a great view over the Mussel platforms situated all over the Galician estuaries. Can there be any greater testament to environmental sustainability than this?

Of course human nature being what it is greed did get in the way. Along the way we had companies getting into owning licenses on the back of tax opportunities that seem to present themselves for the medical fraternity and the majority of processors, having worked out that Scallops can absorb more than their own weight in water if they are soaked and stirred, had an impact of creating confusion. You needed to know who you were dealing with and be strong in your commitment to quality to avoid getting complaints from customers about the water content when they were cooked. To this day, despite the many attempts there is not a Commercial Scallop Quality Standard which is adhered to and that shows a lack of maturity when you can buy imported product with guaranteed counts and thawed weights. Hopefully the industry will soon wake up to these issues – treat the customer with respect and you will be surprised what you can achieve. I hasten to add that there are Codes of Practice regarding fishing Scallops and those are to be applauded as they have generally been driven by the fishermen.

The fishery recovered after 1969 and continued to flourish until 1996 when Government ceased scallop fishing activity in Port Phillip Bay. The Victorian Government closed the fishery in Port Phillip Bay to commercial fishers on 31 March 1997. The reason was political pure and simple – Port Phillip Bay voters love their recreational fishing, and there is a perception that dredging for scallops does damage when fishing and there were clearly more votes to be won by making promises of stopping the dredging than supporting the great export industry that we had.

When you look back at this you really do not know whether to laugh or cry. I remember speaking to scientist/researchers at the Governments own institution and they were strong in their opinions that the scallop dredgers were doing little or no harm and I recall thinking at the time the then Minister in charge was nowhere near as committed as the Premier and party about closing the fishery but he had a job to do and he did it. The Government changed the Act and that was it, a great Victorian asset lost.

Since then it seems that the word ‘dredging’ and its connection to Port Phillip Bay have gone hand in hand. Dredging for Scallops was banned but actually dredging the Bay to make it deeper to enable larger vessels to steam up the Bay and enabling us to have a larger working Port in the centre of Melbourne seem to get the political sustainability tick. I think this shows that you can take any piece of science research and make it sound either extremely good or extremely bad depending on what your aims are – maybe that is a cynical view but it is hard to really comprehend the thinking that goes on in political circles sometimes.

The closure situation was not helped by the fishing industry not having a joint plan and working together. There were many groups involved and the fight got bitter and twisted and many a harsh word was spoken. There were marches on Parliament but they did not change anything and probably made things slightly worse. The legal fraternity, of course, loves these disputes and I would bet many a fine holiday home has been built on the backs of the legal opinions that were flying around at the time.

Whilst some of the industry was able to look further east for their product (Scallops were discovered off Lakes Entrance in eastern Victoria in 1970) many never recovered and this was hard on both the primary sector and secondary sector. If my memory serves me right the processors received scant compensation having built a labor force and facilities close to the fishing ports around the Bay and this caused much pain.

There can be no doubts whatsoever that Scallops are an environmental positive product and, as has been proven, can be managed to maximise sustainable environmental outcomes so I think it is about time we saw the resurgence of Scallop activity in Port Phillip Bay. The Victorian Fisheries Act 1995 aims to utilise fisheries resources according to ecologically sustainable development principles which means meeting the needs of today without compromising the needs of the future and Governments have a role to maximise sustainable production of food.

I am not sure why Scallop farming has not been encouraged as contrary to common perceptions concerning the negative impacts of many aquaculture practices, scallop aquaculture (and indeed other shellfish aquaculture practices) globally is considered to be a sustainable practice that can have positive ecosystem effects. Science has shown that this is a result of filter-feeding bivalves removing particulate matter, unwanted nutrients, silt, bacteria and viruses from the water column so to increase water clarity which, in turn, improves pelagic and benthic ecosystems, particularly by promoting growth of vegetation such as sea grasses.

With the demise of Scallop fishing in the Bay it became a haven for invasive pest species and you would have to wonder how that could be better than what we had. Scallops, I believe, have a lifespan of 1-4 years and they serve as useful “underwater canaries” to signal changes in water quality. Adult Scallops pump about 15 litres of water per hour by funneling water across open pathways on its gill covers. One of these pathways pumps in water containing food and oxygen, while the second expels the “cleansed” water along with waste products.

In Galicia the scallop shell is known as the “Galician Passport” as they are popular with pilgrims on the Way of St James to the apostle’s shrine at Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Medieval Christians making the pilgrimage to his shrine often wore a scallop shell symbol on their hat or clothes. Pilgrims also carried a scallop shell with them, and would present at churches, castles, and abbeys etc., where they could expect to be given as much sustenance as he could pick up with one scoop. Even the poorest household could therefore give charity without being overburdened. History has two stories regarding the scallop association with Saint James. One relates the apostle rescuing a knight covered in scallops, and the other that while St. James’ remains were being transported to Spain from Jerusalem, the horse of a knight fell into the water, and emerged covered in the shells.

I understand there is a strong chance that professional divers might soon be allowed to get specific commercial licenses to dive for Scallops in the Bay and I encourage the Victorian Government to do what they can to make sure this happens. Nothing could be more environmentally sustainable than this! At the moment the only people who are benefitting are recreational divers who, with a recreational license, have a daily bag limit of 100 Scallops. Is this fair on the whole of the community?

I also hope that we can use what was once a fantastic resource in searching for ways to fish, ranch and aquaculture Scallops into the future and increase the value of Port Phillip Bay and put back on the dinner plates of Victorians a great feed of fresh Roe-On Scallops – how good could that be? 

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